Fallen 70-year-old mountain biker receives CPR, Life Flight

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A man reported to be 70 years old was transported by Life Flight from a popular mountain biking area known as the Green Valley Gap on the edge of the Green Valley suburbs in St. George today at approximately 3:30 p.m. after falling off his bike.

The man fell off his mountain bike at the bottom of a ravine just west of the Canyon View Drive, Plantation Drive intersection where there are numerous ATV trails, biking trails and biking jumps criss-crossing the area.

Emergency personnel from the St. George Police Department, St. George Fire Department, Gold Cross Ambulance, and Life Flight responded and administered CPR for approximately 15-20 minutes before Life Flight flew him from the scene to the Dixie Regional Medical Center.

“He just flipped and landed kind of funny,” Scott Reid said. He watched the accident take place from approximately 300 feet east of the wreck site, he said. Since there is a ditch nearby the wreck site, he may have ran over that and toppled over, Reid said.

Reid witnessed the man fall and became alarmed after the man didn’t get back up. He said he asked two men packing up their car next to him if they knew the man and the men told him that it was their friend; one of them went down to check on him. The man who went down to check then started waving his hands frantically and called 911 in a panic, Reid said.

Emergency personnel soon showed up and immediately started giving CPR. They continued giving CPR for approximately 15-20 minutes, Reid said, until they flew him away in the Life Flight helicopter continuing to administer CPR.

Emergency personnel had very little information at the scene. There had been a mountain biking accident, St. George Police Officer Travis Willinger said, and the man was 70 years old.

“The gentleman crashed on his bike or had some sort of medical condition,” Willinger said.

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Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Rescue personnel at the scene of a mountain biking accident near the Green Valley Gap area at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, St. George, Utah, Dec. 27, 2013 | Photo by Drew Allred, St. George News

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2013, all rights reserved.

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About the Author

Drew Allred spent his childhood in Washington state and adolescence in northern Utah, originally moving to St. George to attend Dixie State University. Drew graduated with a writing degree, fell in love with Southern Utah, and never left. Today he claims that St. George is the first place that’s ever felt like home. When he’s not rock climbing or exploring the desert, he manages to make a living writing and guiding.